The ending of Alien: Earth episode 5 was about Morrow’s reunion with Yutani and him expressing his plan to kill Boy Kavalier. Why did he want to do that, though? So, as we saw in the first episode, almost every aspect of the USCSS Maginot had been compromised, leaving Morrow no option but to get into a secured pod to survive the ship crashing into Earth. It seemed like either he or Teng was responsible for the debacle, but that wasn’t the case at all. Also, we were under the impression that it was just the Xenomorph that had wreaked havoc on the ship, leading to the release of some of the other aliens on board; also not true. On one hand, one of the crew members unlocked the boxes that held two Ovomorphs and then started a fire. That attracted the attention of Captain Dinsdale and Bronski, and both of them got facehugged. Dinsdale died when Rahim made an incision on the Facehugger’s tail; meanwhile, Bronski “gave birth” to the Xenomorph. On the other hand, Chibuzo made a massive blunder, which allowed one of the tick-like organisms to dump its larvae in her drink, which led to a chain reaction that ended with her death as well as that of Rahim and Malachite. And that had nothing to do with the sabotage; it was all just a result of unprofessional behavior. Coming back to the topic at hand: who was the saboteur? What was his aim? Has he succeeded? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Petrovich Was The Saboteur
The name of the treacherous crew member of the USCSS Maginot was Petrovich. Apparently, his wife was once a part of the crew, until she was attacked on the planet that had aliens that could lay eggs in one’s eyes. I don’t think he was referring to the eye-squid thing; I suppose it’s a different creature. Doesn’t matter. The point was that, in order to make up for the woman’s death, I guess her share of the credits was transferred to Petrovich, and then her body, or whatever came out of the eggs that were laid in her eyes, was taken away for scientific purposes. Since then, either Petrovich started contacting the competition in order to get back at Weyland-Yutani, or maybe Prodigy was looking into disgruntled employees on the USCSS Maginot, and they found Petrovich. The fact of the matter was that Petrovich was ready to crash-land the ship into Prodigy City, giving Boy Kavalier access to all the organisms that were aboard the vessel, as long as he got a new body and tons of money. Since Boy Kavalier was desperate to get his hands on Weyland-Yutani’s research and get a boost in the capitalists’ race to be the most powerful company to rule over Earth, and then maybe the rest of the galaxy, he accepted Petrovich’s terms.
I have to point out two things here. Firstly, both parties agreed to this deal without knowing if they’d survive the ordeal or thinking about the consequences of toying with creatures from other planets. Secondly, Weyland-Yutani was making great strides in the field of galactic research because they weren’t sending the brightest minds out into space, just the most desperate ones. They just didn’t consider the fact that that desperation could evolve into betrayal, and ineptitude could lead to mishap. Sure, you can say that in this atmosphere of hustling, you have to do everything in your power to get to the top. The issue with that mindset is that, in this climate, if you aren’t already born with a golden spoon stuffed in your mouth, you aren’t getting to the top; you are just destroying the fabric of class solidarity and crushing those who belong to the same class as you.
What did Petrovich get by doing all that? Morrow’s hand-blade in his back. Was the disloyalty worth it? In Petrovich’s dying moments, I suppose he justified his actions by thinking that, at the very least, he had managed to put a dent in Weyland-Yutani’s profits. He didn’t get to reap the benefits of his labor, but he died knowing that he caused some discomfort to the people who let his wife die for a science experiment and didn’t compensate him appropriately. Now, all the money and time that Yutani had spent on USCSS Maginot’s adventures was serving Prodigy and Boy Kavalier. By the way, do I think that Boy Kavalier would have made Petrovich one of the richest guys on the planet and turned him immortal via a synthetic body if he somehow managed to survive that whole ordeal? Nope; he would have had him killed. Morrow just quickened the process. The bottom line is that, no matter where you are on the proverbial ladder, don’t trust a capitalist. I think Morrow will learn that lesson the hard way because, despite seeing everything that has happened so far, he is still loyal to Yutani.
Morrow’s Loyalty to Yutani
After planting the seeds of deception in the mind of Slightly, we see Morrow talking to Yutani herself about “bringing the specimens home.” What does he mean by that? I was under the impression that, after sacrificing Hermit to an Ovomorph, Slightly would deliver him to Morrow. But now I am starting to think that Morrow expects Hermit to give birth to a Xenomorph, thereby leading to the same kind of chaos on Neverland Island that happened aboard the USCSS Maginot. Then Weyland-Yutani will land there before Prodigy’s forces from the city can make it, secure the Xenomorph during the chaos (and maybe some of the other creatures as well), and leave. Boy Kavalier had apparently reached out to Yutani to strike a deal. For what? I don’t know. Isn’t it enough that he has synthetics and the whole cache of Weyland-Yutani’s research? Now, he wants to extort Yutani as well? To be honest, that’s not surprising. However, what could Kavalier have offered Yutani? That he would keep a lid on the illegal research that Weyland-Yutani was doing if she paid him a gazillion dollars, which would also cover the damage that was done by her ship? Anyway, that option has gone out of the window now, because Morrow wants to take the “scorched earth” method to deal with Kavalier. He doesn’t want to negotiate with him; he wants him dead for manipulating a member of his crew into killing everyone aboard the USCSS Maginot.
On top of that, it seems like he’s incredibly loyal to Weyland-Yutani because Yutani’s grandmother picked him up off the street when he was just a child and gave him a brand new life. She had his palsied arm fixed and probably gave him a good enough wage to form a family. But I think he’s in for a rude awakening. I feel that Yutani is the one behind Morrow’s daughter’s death. Maybe she sees him as her grandmother’s property, and she didn’t like the fact that he was getting too comfortable. Hence, while he was away on a mission, she had his daughter killed so that the only thing that Morrow would focus on was the job Weyland-Yutani gave him. For now, he’s feeling thankful that, after everything he has been through, Yutani still “respects” him. What will happen when he comes to the realization that Yutani is willing to side with him only as long as he is a weapon that Weyland-Yutani can wield, not a person who is miffed at his bosses for backstabbing him? Will he still deliver the Xenomorph to her or let the creature turn Earth into a hellscape?
There’s a popular theory that his mind has been “corrupted” by David (from Prometheus and Covenant) on the planet where they found the Ovomorphs. As of now, there’s nothing to suggest that anything of that sort has happened. Yes, Morrow and his crew were definitely on a planet with the Ovomorphs, but as far as I understand, all of his “quirks” and manipulative tactics are just a part of his character. His experience aboard the USCSS Maginot and his need to prove that he is loyal to Weyland-Yutani have made him a bit unhinged. But no, I don’t see him being puppeteered by a David-mind-virus. If he is, and Morrow chooses to leave both Yutani and Kavalier in the dust and take all the aliens to David, who is waiting for him on some faraway planet, I won’t be surprised.
The Eye Monster Rules
In addition to all that, the ending of Alien: Earth episode 5 shed some light on the eye monster’s allegiances. It seems like the creature is pretty anti-Xenomorph and pro-human. We see it trying to prevent Chibuzo from consuming the larvae of the tick-like monster. I think it escaped from its container because it wanted to save everyone from the larvae-infested water in Chibuzo’s bottle. Why did it burrow into Schmuel’s eye, though? Well, firstly, it’s possible that Schmuel had died way before the eye monster got into him, and secondly, the eye monster needed a human host to protect the surviving members of the USCSS Maginot from the Xenomorph. It could have transferred from Schmuel’s body to Zaveri’s when she was trapped in there with it, but it didn’t. It knocked her out so that she would stop panicking and allow him to deal with the Xenomorph.
By the way, its anti-non-human agenda must have been the reason why it attacked Nibs. It could have been hostile towards Morrow, but I suppose it sensed his human side and decided to help him. With all that said, the eye monster’s instincts are evolving and aren’t as binary as they were before. Which is why it took a liking to Kirsh, a synthetic, and showed some form of disdain when approached by Boy Kavalier. Look, the show is already fantastic and one of the best entries in the Alien franchise. However, if the eye monster, whilst possessing a bloody sheep, gets to kill Kavalier, I will shout the show’s name from the rooftops and buy every piece of the show’s merchandise that I can get my hands on. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the ending of Alien: Earth episode 5. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
